Covenant

"Head on in" Swanson smiled "Penny's shop is normally people's first stop. It's just to your right."

I waved him thanks and went inside. When I actually saw inside I was a little disappointed. From everything I had seen this world was far bigger than the game, while Covenant was bigger it just wasn't that much bigger.

It made sense though, even if Covenant was a settlement it was one full of paranoid people who were obsessed with Synths. So it really shouldn't have surprised me it was so small.

I passed a few people on the streets and they smiled and waved at me saying how great Covenant was. They were too happy and it was already getting on my nerves and I hadn't even been there five minutes.

I quickly found Penny's shop, it was in a average suburban home just like all the other buildings in Covenant. Inside Penny was manning her counter looking like she was expecting someone. She had short black hair tied in a bun and wore a knee length green dress.

When I walked in she smiled at me like all the rest "Hello there! I hope Swanson didn't bother you too much with his little 'SAFE' test. Between you and me, he gets a little too into his job sometimes.

Anyway welcome! Everybody around here calls me Mrs. Fitzgerald but, you cutie can call me Penny!"

He fake enthusiasm was almost too much for me. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible but, I still needed equipment first.

"Hi, Penny you can call me Devin. I'm just here to shop around a little."

"Of course" she beamed "I'll make sure to give you a good price!"

I almost rolled my eyes, she was one of the most expensive vendors in the whole game.

"Show me what you've got."

She reached under he counter and pulled out a clipboard clipboard just like Carla's that listed all their wares.

I did a quick look through and it didn't look like she have the 'Justice' Combat Shotgun or the Destroyer's Helmet yet. That sucked because they were good pieces of equipment I was planning to buy.

Still even without any Legendary equipment her stock was still decent. I ordered four more Molotov's because they had basically saved my life back with the Molerats and I was running low. Other than that I also ordered a full set of Leather Armor, all kinds of ammo, two Fusion Cores, a Military Backpack, some of the assorted vegetables and fruit they grew, as well all the junk with rare materials like Screws and Crystal.

But, what I was happiest to buy was a Short Hunting Rifle. I finally had a weapon for my Sniper build.

"That's a lot of stuff you're buying" she said with that stupid smile still plastered over her face. "Your total is 1,687 Caps, how are you planning on paying for all of that?" I could feel the implied threat behind her words even though she never dropped her facade.

I smiled and put my arm behind my back like I was reaching for some thing, and pulled out a gold bar placing it on the counter.

"Oh, my" she covered her mouth. "That is a lot but, I don't thi-"

I cut her off by pulling out another bar of gold.

" I found these while exploring some old houses. I had three but, I sold one to a traveling salesman yesterday. She told me that each of these is worth around a thousand Caps."

"O-of course" she nodded while staring at the gold. "Just let me double check its value first." She proceeded to do all the same tests that Carla did yesterday. After she finished up she looked at me with a slight apologetic face "I'm sorry but, I've found your gold isn't worth 2,000 Caps at most it's worth 1,500."

"Bullshit" I cursed "Why would a traveling merchant pay me more than its worth! I know you're just trying to scam me!"

Penny defensively waved her hands "I'm sorry but, your gold is truly only worth 1,500 Caps. I don't know what kind of scam that merchant you met was running but, it-"

"Look" I interrupted her while pinching the bridge of my nose. "I really need this stuff so regardless of whether I'm scammed or not today I'm still going to buy as much as possible. But, that being said do you know who I sold the other gold bar to?"

"I don't understand how that's-"

"It was Trashcan Carla. She might not be the biggest trader at Bunker Hill but, she's one of the most trustworthy merchants in the Commonwealth. I also just so happened to save her life from a bunch of raiders yesterday and have a meeting with her later this week. If I tell her that you ripped me off and she tells all of her trade buddies I can't imagine it would be too good for your settlement. So, I'm only going to ask you this once. Are you sure you got the value of my gold right?"

"I-I-I'll be back in a moment" she panicked and ran off while I laughed to myself.

I already knew Covenant was shady long before I got here. They have a nasty habit of kidnapping traders and experimenting on them to see if they're Synths. But, because of that they're always a little short on supplies and try to rip off their customers.

I had been rehearsing all morning about what I would say when I got here. I even switched to my Black Suit before I came in to get the extra Charisma. It was really nice to see Penny freaking out like that.

I knew that threat would hurt them. They are always in need of more traders. Not just to resupply but, to do more tests to identify Synths.

I wasn't worried about getting on their bad sides either. I never even wanted to come to Covenant in the first place. They were a racist faction that experimented on human even though they hated the institute for doing the exact same thing. I was a classic case of becoming what you hate.

Not long later Penny came running back in and immediately apologized for her wrong assessment. And immediately gave me all of the items I ordered including the 313 extra Caps I was owed.

I packed everything up into my new Backpack and said goodbye to Penny. I didn't want to be here any longer and left Covenant as soon as possible.

"Are you leaving already" Swanson questioned me as I walked out the exit.

"Yeah, I was just stopping here for some supplies, I still have other things to do today."

Swanson stopped me "why don't you take a break first" he motioned to the little school area again "I have a couple cold Nuka Cola's I'd be willing to share.

"Sorry" I turned him down "but, I really need to get going. With that I waved him off and started the long walk back to my base.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a deep dark cave a man slowly woke up from unconsciousness. It took a moment to remember what was going on but, when he did he started screaming and thrashing in his restraints. He didn't know how long he had been here but, he knew it had been a while.

One moment he was trading in Covenant when a strange robot came up and offered him some lemonade. It was a hot day and he was thirsty, so naturally he accepted.

Next thing he knew he was in a small cell deep underground. From there a woman who introduced her self only as Doctor Chambers met with him. She said that her mission was to identify all the Synths in the wasteland and eliminate them.

He asked what that had to do with him, he wasn't a Synth.

Her response was to apologize and agree with him saying that from her experience there was only a 1% chance that he was actually a Synth but, that that didn't matter. She went on to explain how she was going to experiment on him to try and determine the differences between Humans and Synths.

From then on every day was a living hell. They would give him barely any food and water to see how his body reacted. Take samples of his blood, feces, and even use large needles to take samples of his bone marrow and spinal fluid. The worst however was the torture, they would inflict every kind of pain imaginable on him in an effort to in their own words "get his fake brain to reboot and show himself as the robot he really is.

Today however was different. His guards had come in with no explanation and knocked him out. Now he was struggling on a gurnee with Doctor Chambers standing over him.

"You've had to endure a lot over the last couple weeks" she apologized again, she was very fond of doing that. "Now, however your suffering is at an end. We have collected all the data possible from you and are about to do your final dissection determine once and for all whether you are a Synth or not. If you are found to be human we will bury you and sent any personal effects to your next of kin. But, if you're a Synth . . . well if you're a Synth then you were never real in the first place.

The man thrashed and struggled with everything he had desperately trying to escape.

"Shh, just relax" Doctor Chambers injected a syringe into his neck. His struggles became weaker and weaker until once again he fell into blissful unconsciousness.

Doctor Chambers them snapped a rubber glove onto her hand and spoke to the other scientists around her while picking up a scalpel "let's begin."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Congratulations, Doctor Chambers! You were correct, he was a Synth! Now our accuracy is up to a staggering 40%."

"Yes" Doctor Chambers nodded "After all these decades we're finally beginning to make some progress." She then looked down at the corpse below her, no she reminded herself it wasn't a corpse it had to have been alive in the first place to be a corpse. "As much as I hate the Institute" she spoke "I can't help but, admire them. If I had not known better I would have sworn that this was a living breathing person.

The other Doctor responded "While it's true that it must take an unimaginable amount of scientific knowledge to create a Synth. That doesn't change the fact that they're abominations. Aberrants of nature that should all be put down as soon as possible!" He spat with venom in his voice.

"True" Doctor Chambers agreed "We cannot let anything like the CPG Massacre happen ever again. Not if we want any semblance of peace to ever return to the Commonwealth."

As they were talking a large man dressed in full Combat Armor approached her.

"Excuse, me Doctor Chambers" he spoke.

"Yes, what is it Manny? You don't interrupt me unless it's something important."

"There's been another trader to Covenant."

"Oh, marvelous I thought we would have to wait several more weeks to find another test subject. But, why bring this to me it's not that important?"

"There was something strange about this one."

"Strange how?"

"First, he seems to be a Vault Dweller but, that's not the important part. When he first arrived he took the SAFE test as per regulation but, his answers were highly unusual. After he entered Covenant he headed straight for Penny's shop and purchased a large amount of supplies before Immediately leaving."

"I still don't see why you needed to inform me? Answering strangely on the SAFE and buying a supplies doesn't seem like a reason to notify me."

"It's not what he bought that's the problem it's how he bought it. After placing his order with Penny he proceeded to pay with two 30 pound bricks of gold. He didn't have and storage devices when he entered Covenant and by Penny's own account they seemed to have appeared from nowhere.

I check with Swanson and he told us that the secret scales underneath the chairs of the SAFE testing area measured him to be 173 pound. So unless he weights on 113 pounds there is clearly something fishy going on."

Doctor Chambers rubbed her chin "did you test his weight again on the way out?"

Manny shook his head "Unfortunately he turned down Manny's offer of drinks. How should we proceed?"

"Have our spys on the outside keep an eye on him, and if he stops a Covenant again grab him. He might be a newer model of Synth that the Institute is implementing."

Manny saluted "By your orders Ma'am" before moving to relay his orders.

"Wait" Doctor Chambers stopped him.

"Yes Ma'am?"

"What was his name?"

"He said it was Devin."